Geared with some newly acquired info on beach fishing I was eager to head out and try this fishery. Was in the parking lot at Ambleside at 5am and walked out to where I saw one angler setting up his gear, I nodded to him, walked down a bit and got my rod all put together. I used a small silver and blue spoon and saw only one fish in the first hour. A couple more anglers joined us and started casting away. A school of fish eventually moved in and there was a hookup by the fellow who was there before me. A nice coho around 4 pound was lost at his feet before it could be netted. In the next hour, there was nothing but small salmon caught, I landed a small hatchery coho no bigger then 12". Just before we left my buddy and I walked down closer towards the mouth as we saw a small school breaking the surface farther down the beach. The first couple casts were unsuccessful but not long after I was retrieving my spoon when it suddenly stopped moving, a small jerk on the rod sent a 5 pound Coho straight into the air and it took off. I was finally able to get the fish under control but just before it could be netted it decided to go into one last coho roll and spat the hook
Nothing seemed to be showing itself anymore so we packed up and headed for the Cap.
This was my first time fishing the Cap and I was determined to get a coho on the fly. We walked into the cable pool first to have a look, to our surprise no one was there
As I was putting my rod together my buddy was already slowly drifting his colorado through the pool. Just as I was about to cast he hooked up. Unfortunately the fish was around 14" and too small for his liking so it was released. Now it was my turn, I put on a small rolled muddler in blue and had 3 coho follow the fly right to my feet. This happened several times before finally one committed and hammered it. It took off and I had my line wrapped around a rock at my feet so I heard a dreaded snap
The next couple hours yielded 2 hits for me and one lost by my buddy. Just before we were about to pack it in I threw on an olive woolly bugger as it was one of the last flys I hadn't tried. As I was letting the fly sink I saw my line slowly moving upstream, I stripped the line hard and that set the hook into a fresh Coho around 3 pounds. This one I eased in, tailed and flipped up on the bank, my first Cap coho!
As I was cleaning the fish I heard my buddy yell, he had hooked into a nice fish and it took off way upstream, after about 5min he finally turned it and slowly slid it in to my waiting hands. This was also his first Cap coho, adult coho that is. His fish was around 6-7 pounds and just a bar, even still had sea lice which is odd considering the water was so low. He had a permanant smile on his face as we packed up and headed for home. He said it was because he caught dinner but I know the smile was because he had just outdone me, again
All in all it was a great trip and we both really enjoyed it. The Cap is a beautiful river and to those of you who get to fish it regularly I am very envious. I will definatly try and get back before I go back to work on Tues. Tight lines and good luck
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Topic: Capilano River and West Vancouver Beaches, August 1st 2012 (Read 4407 times)